Things from Your Past
by Sunnymuffins
Summary: Tabatha didn't want to be there, especially when the world fell apart. It was a bad situation, just itching to get worse and worse.
1. Chapter 1

_**I don't own the show, or any characters but the ones I came up with.**_

_**This is my first Walking Dead Fan-fic. I wrote some Supernatural ones that didn't turn out the way I wanted, so I'm hoping that maybe a change of universe will do me good.**_

**Chapter 1**

Tabatha sighed and turned her car off. She had been stuck in this traffic jam for hours and had given up on the thought of getting out of it any time soon. Luckily the sun had set about a half an hour ago, and it seemed to finally have cooled down enough that she didn't need her A/C. She had only been in Georgia for a couple of weeks, but she had started missing the dry heat of New Mexico as soon as she had stepped out of her car at her uncle's house. Tabatha had hoped that she would of been on her way home forever ago, but just when she had been ready to give up on her reason for coming all this way, the broadcasts to get to Atlanta had started.

Her uncle had gone off to get his late wife's mother from her retirement home, assuring her he'd be fine. It would all probably blow over by the time she got into Atlanta anyway. They both had figured that it had just been blown out of proportion by the media. Probably just a case of a small epidemic that you just needed to get a vaccine for. She didn't know why she couldn't of just gone home to get it, why they thought they really needed to close the borders out of the state was perplexing.

She stretched back in her seat and realized just how sore her legs were. Peering out of her rear view mirror she saw that a lot of people were getting out of their cars and walking around. Sighing again, she got out of her car, making sure to check her windows and lock the doors, getting robbed in a traffic jam would be just her luck. Tabatha walked around to the front of her car before she leaned on it and pulled her cigarettes out of her jacket pocket. Just as she had lit it and was fumbling to stick her lighter in her pocket a guy showed up.

"You think I could bum one of those off of you?" He asked, his accent definitely marking him as a native to Georgia.

"Sure," she mumbled as she passed him one and then offered him her lighter. _'Never fails'_ she thought.

Tabatha had hoped that he'd just wander off again now that he had what he wanted, but then again, she was never that lucky.

"I usually don't smoke, but it's a stressful situation." He said as he shot her a half-hearted smile.

She nodded in response. Everyone always wanted small talk, she found it irritating.

He must of realized that she wasn't going to pick up the conversation, he tried a different approach. "I'm Shane," he stated, offering her his hand to shake.

Barely suppressing another sigh, she accepted his outstretched hand. "Tabatha." She said simply.

"Don't sound like you're from around here. Where ya from?" He asked, trying to keep her talking. He really didn't know why, but he just had an urge to talk to her.

"New Mexico." She answered, really hoping he would get the point and leave.

"Naw, you don't have a Mexican accent." He laughed, looking at her like she was joking.

This time she couldn't stop the deep sigh that came out of her. "New Mexico is part of the US. Not part of Mexico. So, no, I'm not Mexican, I don't need a green card to leave my state, and, as you can see, I speak English fluently."

He gave her a sheepish look, "Oh, sorry. Ya here 'Mexico' and think south of the border, ya know?"

Tabatha nodded again, thoroughly done with conversation.

Shane opened his mouth to say something else when a loud boom sounded, followed by the dark haired woman he was with yelling for him. He took off in the direction of the noise, the woman close behind him. Tabatha looked around for a second before jogging after them, curiosity getting the better of her. When she got to the edge of the woods and saw what was happening, she stopped dead. Atlanta was on fire. Helicopters seemed to be bombing it, making the city blaze in the dark of night.

"Holy shit," she mumbled. Apparently she had been wrong. There was definitely something big going on.

Realizing there was nothing she could do, and that people would probably start panicking at any second, she turned and hurried back to her car, cursing under her breath.

"Just my luck." She growled at herself as she quickly unlocked her drivers door and got in, locking it behind her.

She started rummaging around in her back seat, searching almost desperately for her hand gun case. Quietly thanking whatever omnipresent being might be listening that her boss back home had insisted she take it. _"Don't want you getting in any trouble when I ain't there to help you out of it." _he had said. Boy, was _trouble_ an understatement at this point.

* * *

Tabatha hadn't realized that she'd fallen asleep until there was a knock at her window. She jumped awake and gripped her hand gun just a little harder. Looking at the gun in her hand she mentally beat herself up about falling asleep with it in her hand. "Great job dip-shit, good thing the safety was on." She mumbled to herself before looking out the window.

It was Shane...great. She slowly opened her door and looked at him with her best _"What the fuck do you want?"_ look.

"Hey, member me?" he asked, smiling slightly when she nodded. "Well, after what happened to the city last night, some of us decided it would be smart if we stuck together. There's a gully not far from here, you know, stay close to the city in case the military shows up, but not too close to get blown up." He laughed at his own joke.

She didn't even smile. Shane cleared his throat and continued. "I thought, ya know, that you might want to come along?" When she looked at him as if he'd lost his mind, he snapped a little bit. "It beats baking in your damn car."

Tabatha didn't even flinch, her eyes staid even on his until he looked away. "Who?" she finally asked.

"Huh?" he responded.

There was her sigh again, "Who all is going?" she asked, feeling like she was talking to a toddler.

"Oh, the RV, and a few of the cars around it."

She looked over, surveying the people packing up their stuff and chatting with each other. _"Dammit" _she thought. It was a good idea, but she really wasn't a people person. "Yeah, okay." she finally replied.

He smiled, "Kay, just go head and follow that car right there, that's mine." She nodded and shut her door again.

* * *

It was almost like a mini convoy, there was motorcycle at the lead, followed by the RV, Shane's car, her's, a little station wagon, a couple others that really didn't stand out, and a beat up pick up truck at the rear. Tabatha pulled up behind the RV and parked. She got out of the car and pulled her hair into a high pony-tail, holding her cigarette in her mouth. She started surveying her surroundings. _"Great, camping," _she thought.

Her eyes started taking in all of the people around her. Old people, women, some children, not really any decent looking guys. Then her eyes fell on the motorcycle, and her eyes immediately squinted. She recognized it. Tabatha turned to look for the driver of it, then she spotted them. They looked older, gruffer, more dirty than usual.

"Mother Fucker!" she barked out at them, causing everyone to jump and stare at her. Everyone but the two of them and her looked confused. Her look was more pissed/surprised, theirs was more just surprised/shocked.


	2. Chapter 2

**_Sorry, didn't know how to continue. But I think I did a good, it's just about what was in my head._  
**

**Chapter 2**

"You selfish asshole!" she hollered, advancing on them.

"Hey, Tabby Cat. Why don't ya just back it up." said the slightly taller of the two said.

"Why don't you shut your cake-hole, Merle, before I turn you from a rooster to a hen!" The group was more than surprised that he backed off a bit. The man looked like he could of snapped her in half.

Tabatha was only around 5 feet 3 inches tall, maybe 120 or 125 pounds. And all of that little frame was brimming with anger at the other man.

"What the fuck is wrong with you Daryl?"

"Nice to see you too, Tabs," he responded sarcastically, as he avoided meeting her eyes.

The mothers in the group gasped and herded the kids away quickly when Tabatha reeled back and slapped Daryl across the face. Shane grabbed her around the waist and pulled her away, hoping she'd just calm down and let it go. But he wasn't that lucky.

"Get your hands off of me you fucktard!" she yelled as she kicked and flailed trying to get out of his grip.

"Nope, not til you calm your shit down, girl." he grunted as he tried to keep a hold of her.

Daryl looked like he wanted to do something, but when he stepped toward her she started spitting obscenities at him. He threw up his hands and retreated back to his truck.

"Calm down Tabatha!" Shane barked to no avail.

Merle rubbed his hands over his short hair as he decided on his course of action and the consequences of those actions. Finally he gave up and half shrugged, then moved forward with his idea.

"I got this," he growled at Shane as he grabbed Tabatha from his grip and swung her over his shoulder.

"Merle, you put me down you son of a bitch! I'll gut you, I swear to god I will beat your ass til the end of time! Get your dumb ass, redneck hands off of me you..."

Her tirade was cut short when Merle tossed her into the gulley. She popped up from the water spitting and sputtering. Tabatha leveled him an evil glare as he laughed at her from the little beach.

"Ya cooled off yet Tabby Cat?" he chuckled at her.

She rolled her eyes as she stomped out of the water. "I told you a long fucking time ago to stop calling me that."

"Aww are ya getting all pissy at me again, I could dunk ya again if ya want." He burst into laughter again when she glared at him again.

She stomped her way back up to camp, Merle's laughter following her.

* * *

Tabatha had been stewing in the RV since she tried off hours ago. She wanted to stay away from everyone after she reflected on the whole scenario. Embarrassed would of been an understatement. She flew off the handle in the middle of an epidemic, probably made everyone in the camp think she was mentally unstable just because she got pissed off.

All she had thought about was that this was all their fault. She wouldn't even be in this stupid state if it hadn't been for the Dixon brothers. Tabatha had only come here to see them and get her life in order, after it being scrambled for so long.

And now she was here, stuck in a state she didn't like, with people she didn't know, and a couple of people she really didn't want to be around. How could it get any worse?

She should of known better than to ask that, as if on cue Shane walked into the RV.

"Uh, hey Tabatha. You think we could talk?" he asked with an uncomfortable air around him.

She just nodded and looked away when Daryl walked in after him. _"Great." _she thought.

Shane stood between the two of them and put on his best 'mediator' face. "We don't know how long we're all gonna be here, and I'm sure we don't want live in uncomfortable circumstances for however long it's gonna be. So I think you two should just have a peaceful discussion and get over whatever it is between you guys."

He looked back and forth between them both, waiting for one of them to start. When neither of them said anything, or even looked at each other, he sighed.

"Okay, one of you just tell me what the hell is going on between the two of you. How do you know each other, Tabatha, I thought you said you where from New Mexico. And he's definitely from around here. So...spill it."

She looked out of the window wishing she was anywhere else right now. After an awkward silence, in which Daryl realized he wasn't going to get out of this unless one of them fessed up.

He took a deep sigh and rain his hands through his hair before looking at Tabatha. She gave him a resigned look that he decided meant she didn't care if he blabbed.

"She's my wife."


	3. Chapter 3

**I am horrible at math. I know the guy that plays Daryl was born in 1969, but I changed Daryl's birth year to 1979. Tabatha is a year younger than him, so she was born 1980. Walking Dead started in 2010, so that would mean that Daryl is 31 and Tabatha is 30. **

**Chapter 3**

_May 27th, 1997~_

_ Daryl was trying very hard to hide his excitement. Today was the day his best friend was supposed to be coming back for the summer. He had been waiting for this for two years._

_ Daryl Dixon and Tabatha Greer had been best friends for years. She was a year younger than him and his family lived just down the road from her grandparent's house. When she was 10 years old her parents moved off to New Mexico for better job offers. It was the worst day of his life, Merle had slapped him upside the head because he had almost started crying. Dixon boys didn't cry._

_ She had been coming back every summer since then, except for last year. Tabatha had called her grandparents and begged them to tell Daryl that she was sorry, but she couldn't make it that summer. She had summer school._

_ He had been devastated, but this year she was definitely coming. And he couldn't wait to see her brace-face break out in a smile when she saw all the trouble he had planned for them to get into that summer._

_ As Mr. Greer's beat up red Chevy pulled into the driveway, Daryl's excitement was almost palpable. He hopped off of the porch with a wide grin and stuck his dirty hands in his pockets._

_ But the girl who jumped out of the truck was not the girl he remembered. _

_ Her hair was a bit longer than two years ago. If it hadn't been pulled into a tight ponytail it would of fallen to her waist in a long auburn wave. And she had definately grown out of her lankiness. An hour glass figure that was being extremely accentuated by the pair of short jean shorts and midriff revealing yellow tank top. Braces were gone, so was her acne._

_ Daryl found himself short of breath at just the sight of her. And when she ran up to hug him he had to work hard at keeping himself "calm". _

_"Well," Daryl thought, "this summer is going to be a blast."_

* * *

"Estranged wife, Daryl. I haven't seen you in over a decade!" she snapped.

"Yea? Is that supose' to be my fault?" Daryl grunted, slamming his hands down on the table before storming out to go hunting. He really felt like killing something right about now.

Shane stood, mouth slightly agape at these new revelations. "Welp," he said, running his hand through his hair. "This is going to be fun."

Merle lounged back on a log next to his tent. He watched Daryl grab his crossbow and head off into the woods and smiled slightly. Merle wasn't really smart by most people's standards, but he was good at reading people and observing. He had known since they were kids that Daryl and Tabby were gonna end up together. It was always only a matter of time, if things hadn't happened the way they did way back then, they might still be together. Funny how one little fuck up can ruin everything in the blink of an eye.

For his part in it all, Merle had always been ashamed for it. But him and Tabby had hashed their shit out before it all blew up between his little brother and her. He would never admit it, but Merle was really hoping that the two of them were able to get their act together and stop being so damn stubborn. For now he would just sit back and watch it all unfold.

* * *

Tabatha wandered down the water where the other women were doing laundry. She cleared her throat as she approached them, they all looked at her with a bit of fear and irritation.

"I just wanted to apologize for my outburst earlier. I wasn't thinking and I really shouldn't of said all those things in front of your children." She averted her eyes and waited, impatiently, for them to reply.

After a very uncomfortable silence the teenage blonde got up and walked over to her. "I'm Amy," she said with a smile and a hand shake.

Tabatha smiled and shook her hand. "Tabatha...but you can call me Tabby if you want." Amy smiled in response and walked off back to the came chit-chatting with Tabatha the whole way.

* * *

Daryl came back to camp right after the sun had set. In all the chaos in the day he hadn't remembered to put up a tent, so he climbed into the cab of his truck and pulled a jacket over himself. He wanted to sleep, but his mind just kept wandering to the woman sleeping in the car a few cars from his truck. He had missed her. And when Merle told him that she had shown up at their place with divorce papers it had hurt him.

Sure, he hadn't seen her in about 13 years, but she was still his wife. He thought about her every day, wondering what she was doing, if she was happy. Daryl had always held out some hope that she would come back someday, that they would be together again. But once those words came out of Merle's mouth, he knew it was over, no more hope. He knew he wasn't a coward, but when he saw her car pull up the next few times she came, he hid. A small part of him wanted to go up to her and just yell, tell her she was being selfish, and that if she would just pull her head out of her ass she would see that.

But he didn't. He knew Merle would cover for him, sure he would probably bitch at him for awhile, but he would definitely cover for him. What was going to happen next was what he really wanted to know. Now they were stuck in the same camp together, for as ever long as this shit lasted. Maybe he could win her back, but the how of that was still eluding him.

_Thank you to Amaya Dixon and Miss E Charlotte for your reviews =-). I kind of rushed this chapter, I wanted it out of my head so I can sleep tonight lol. I hope you like it, please review and let me know if you have any suggestions =-). Thank you guys so much._


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

A few days later Amy invited Tabatha on a walk down to the water. The division of chores hadn't fully been hashed out yet, so for the time being there was some free time. Usually Tabby wouldn't of accepted the offer, she hadn't ever really had time for friends or even a social life. For the past thirteen years she had been throwing herself into school and work. She had finally saved up enough money to buy a house without a loan, which was a goal she had set for herself after watching her parents destroy themselves over paying off loans.

That's what had ended her up here. Her lawyer had told her that even though she and her husband had been separated for so long, he could still make a claim to what she had if she bought the house before a divorce was finalized. It was something she had been putting off and hiding from for so long, she wasn't sure if she was strong enough to hash out her past. But after several failed attempts at sending the papers and trying to have him served, she realized the only way she had a chance at it was in person. The thought had terrified her, but she had always known she'd have to see him again, she had just always hoped that it was on her death bed.

Talking to Amy was so much easier than she ever thought it would be. It distracted her from her mess of a situation, and any distraction from thinking about the fact that her and her estranged husband were jammed together in the same camp was very welcome. Of course, it would of been so much easier if he didn't keep popping up everywhere she went, or if he stopped watching her. She knew he thought he was being sneaky about it, thought he was such a good hunter that no one would ever notice. But he forgot that she knew him, all his little ticks and quarks. She could feel his eyes on her constantly. It was definitely bringing back unwanted memories.

She was laughing about something Amy had said when she felt it again. He walked up to the water and made a show of washing off his hands and face. As soon as she knew he was there her laughter died and her eyes clouded over. Amy kept looking between the two of them uncomfortably, praying that they wouldn't end up in another argument. She started to brace herself for the on coming storm when Daryl walked over to them.

"Can I talk to ya?" he asked, staring Tabatha in the face until she nodded slightly. He motioned for Amy to leave and she scrammed as quickly as she could.

He stood there for awhile, just watching her. Finally she couldn't take it anymore, "you said you wanted to talk, so talk."

"I thought, ya know, maybe we should talk bout what happened." he mumbled, rubbing his hand over his head.

"What? The fact that you've been hiding from reality for so long that you thought I would never find you to get my divorce? Or is it about how you keep watching me every second of the day?" she said with a steely glare at him.

He shook his head, "Naw, I was thinking more bout why ya left in the first place."

The color left her face and she swore her heart had relocated itself to her stomach. She shook her head, "No." was all she said.

"No?" he asked, his words edged with the anger that was building inside of him.

"That's right, I said no. It was a long time ago, a completely different life for me. I won't be walking down memory lane about this. Not with you, not with anyone. Got it?" she asked, but before he could answer she stormed off back to camp.

When she got there she realized she really didn't want to be around anyone, so she veered off into the woods a little ways, just far enough away so no one could hear her. Then, and only then, did she let the tears fall. She hadn't realized how long she had been holding onto them, because when they started, they wouldn't stop, and she had to brace herself against a tree as her mind betrayed her and sped her back to the life she had left behind.

* * *

_"Daryl," she moaned as he plunged into her over and over again. That night they were in his truck, surrounded by the smell of grease, smoke, dirt, and sex. She had been back for her summer stay for barely a month when their teenage hormones had taken over. From the way he touched her she knew she wasn't his first. But she knew she'd never tell him that he was her's. Could never tell him that she had been ga-ga over him since she was thirteen. _

_She knew he'd never be interested in her the way she was, she was just his brace-faced, tom-boy friend. They got in trouble together, they'd never get busy together though. He had always been able to open up to her about everything, and for the most part, he was her only confidant. But Tabatha knew that was as far as it would ever go._

_That was until last year. She'd gotten sent to summer school because she had been so distracted by her changing body that she had no interest in school. Her body had filled out, her breasts had finally come in, and they came in with a passion. Almost over night she had gone from flat chested to a C-cup. Her braces had come off and her face had cleared up. She was stunned to look in the mirror and see someone attractive. And her first thought had been of how Daryl wouldn't even recognize her. _

_But he did, she was still his best friend and partner in crime, but now she could be something more, too. She saw the way he looked at her when they'd go swimming, his eyes always straying down her body. Maybe, just maybe, she could have it all. The best friend, and the boyfriend, all rolled into one._

_When he had put the moves on her that night in his truck she was so excited. He wanted her. Daryl Dixon wanted to be with her. It was like her dreams had come true._

_Of course, with her luck, dreams always turned into nightmares. A few weeks after that night she was feeling really sick so her grandmother had taken her to the doctor, only to find out that she was pregnant. Then all Hell broke loose. Her family threatened his, demanding his father make him "do the right thing." She had to drop out of school, Daryl already had a couple years ago. And before she had even started showing she was Mrs. Tabatha Dixon. _

_They moved into a trailer, he had to work two jobs, her family and him actually agreeing on the fact that they didn't want her to have a job in her condition. She had always figured that his work load was why they fought all the time. But she could never get a straight answer out of him. He'd come home, have a beer with dinner and then start in on her._

_The food wasn't good enough, the house wasn't clean enough, she didn't know how to do anything. She tried arguing the point that she was a seventeen year old, pregnant girl who had never had any experience with this. Her parents had always babied her. But he didn't seem to care. _

_Then the inevitable happened. The big whammy of a fight that had been building. She was about seven months pregnant at that point, he came home from a night out with Merle, completely drunk. He threw dinner against the wall, yelling that she burned it. She was scared, but stubborn, so she stood her ground._

_"God, your drunk again. Why don't you go take a chill pill, Daryl. I guess I'll order a pizza or something." she said, reaching for the phone._

_"OH, your gonna spend more a my money, huh? I don't think so, ya stupid bitch, ya'd probly fuck up orderin it anyway!" he yelled, yanking the phone out of her hand and throwing that against the wall, too._

_"Don't you dare call me a stupid bitch!" she yelled back._

_"I'll call ya whatever the fuck I want, bitch!" _

_She knew she really shouldn't, but her blood was boiling, and her mouth was working faster than her brain. "Just cuz your mother was a stupid bitch, doesn't make me one." _

_The pain was almost unbearable. He had never really realized how strong he was when he was drunk. But the sound the back of his hand made with her face seemed to sober him up quicker than a gallon of coffee._

_They were both dead silent for a few minutes, processing the shit that just happened. He spoke first, as she slowly looked at him._

_"Tabs...I'm.." but he didn't get to finish, as she pushed him against the wall and ran out of the back door that had been left open when he came through it._

_"Tabatha!" he hollered out of the door, but the trailer park they lived in was a jumbled mess of places, and she was long gone from sight._

_She had been walking for maybe an hour, crying from the pain and the anger raging through her, when a beat up car pulled up next to her._

_"Hey Tabby Cat, what ya doin' walkin'?" It was Merle. _

_At first she thought about ignoring him, or telling him to fuck off. But then she thought this might be the way to get some revenge on Daryl. She knew Merle would probably kick the shit out of him once he found out he hit her. And she knew that there was no way she was going to win a fist fight against her husband._

_So she got in. Merle was driving her back to her house, thoroughly pissed off at his baby brother, about ten minutes later. _

_Unfortunately, Tabatha had forgotten that Daryl had been out drinking with Merle before he came home. And if Daryl was drunk enough to hit her, Merle had to be twice as drunk._

_She didn't even have time to breathe before the car flipped trying to avoid hitting a semi. The last thought going through her mind was to try to protect her belly. It really didn't work out the way she had hoped for._

* * *

Tabatha remembered waking up in the hospital a couple days later. She had gotten a concussion and some bumps and bruises. But the worst of it was that she'd lost the baby.

She was crumpled against the tree trying to get her breath back from the sobbing. The more she thought about it, the more she knew it was her fault. If she just hadn't been so spiteful, if she hadn't of gotten in that car, she would have her baby with her. The guilt started to wash over her. The guilt of loosing it, and the guilt of never telling Daryl that it was a son.

They had gone to so many appointments to try to see the sex of the baby, but he was never cooperative, he had always hid. The day of the big fight, she had gone to her appointment alone, Daryl had been at work. And he just rolled over in her tummy. A perfect, tiny boy.

If people knew the story, they would wonder why she was able to get along with Merle well enough, even though he was the one driving the car that ended her baby's life before it was fully started. But her and Merle had hashed that out years ago, before she had left.

He had come to her apologizing, and she had told him to shove it. Then he asked her if kicking the shit out of him would help, she wasn't sure if it would, but she really wanted to hit him. So she did. He didn't fight back, he stood there for nearly fifteen minutes and just let her wail on him, until she collapsed from exhaustion, both at hitting him and because of the sobbing she was doing at the same time.

Things would never be the same between them, they'd never be 'friends'. But they understood each other. Daryl, on the other hand, refused to speak to anyone for the longest time. She knew he had been blaming her, he had to be blaming her, it was her fault. At least in her opinion. She couldn't look at him, every time she did that night came flooding back to her. So she packed up and left, moved back to New Mexico with her parent's help.

Everyone felt responsible. Her family for pushing them into the marriage, Merle for crashing the car, Daryl for hitting her and causing her to leave, and Tabatha felt it all. Everything was her fault from the beginning.

If she just hadn't gotten involved with Daryl none of it would of ever happened. It was what she had wanted. She had caused it all, and loosing the baby had been her punishment.

* * *

**_Thank you to eloquent dreams, Miss E Charlotte, and _**_**Amaya Dixon for your reviews. And thank you to everyone who added this story to their alerts or favorites, it really means a lot to me =-) I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Pleas**_**_e leave some suggestions or reviews, or something lol._**


	5. Chapter 5

**_Sorry for not updating for a couple days. My husband works nights most of the time, which means he goes to work at 6pm and comes home at 6am. So when he gets nights off with me I try to stay away from the computer. =-) I hope you like it, the first part came out the way I wanted it to, and I just winged the second part. _  
**

**Chapter 5**

Amy and Tabatha were sitting next to the fire that night, chatting about random things that really didn't make much since to anyone else who were only half listening. Finally Andrea gave in to her curiosity and got closer to see what they were talking about.

"Dude, no fucking way. It's stupid, there is no way someone who has half a brain cell would really be that into it." Tabatha was saying, a look of disgust, pity, and humor mixed on her face.

"That's not true. It's so good, you just don't understand because you're so old." Amy shot back with a little grin.

"I don't care if you think I'm ancient. Anyone of them with any self respect would end themselves if they were anything like that." Tabatha replied, taking a drag from her cigarette.

"What are you guys talking about?" Andrea asked in that awkward way you asked someone something you aren't sure you want to know.

"Tabatha doesn't like Twilight!" Amy exclaimed with a shocked look at her sister.

By then everyone around the campfire had been listening in, trying to hid grins.

"Dear lord woman! No respectable vampire would sparkle! It's ridiculous!" Tabatha exasperated.

"So what, just because they don't burst into flame when they go in the sun you don't like it?" Andrea asked with a little grin.

Tabatha looked at her like she had grown another head. "No, I don't like it for a billion reasons. And just so you know, not all the lore on vampires say that they burn in the sun. It's just generally thought that because they are night creatures, but if you've ever seen Bram..." she cut off when a noise distracted her.

Everyone's ears poked up for a moment, confused at the sound of a muffled song coming from somewhere near the cars.

"Is that the 'Firefly' theme?" Glenn asked with a grin.

"Holy Shit!" Tabatha said, jumping up and running to her car. She reached on and flipped her phone open. It was still on speaker phone from when she was talking on the road.

_"Tabatha, are you there?" _came a man's voice from over the phone.

"Dennis? Oh my God! Dennis! Where are you, are you okay?" she asked into the phone. Ignoring the fact that the whole camp was standing around listening.

_"Thank heaven your alive, Tabatha! I was so worried." _There was banging and clawing in the background, and his voice sounded a little panicked.

"Dennis, what's going on?" she asked, confusion etched over her face.

_"You haven't seen? It's the dead Tabatha, the dead are walking again, they're killing everyone," _there was more noise in the background, she could hear Dennis's muffled curses.

"Dennis?" she asked, feeling like she was in a nightmare.

"_They're here, I don't have much time. Tabatha, no matter what happens I wanted you to know that I love you." _Suddenly there was the sound of wood breaking and screaming, followed closely by the sickening sound of flesh being torn away and chewing.

"Dennis? Dennis? Oh god please, Dennis! Answer me!" she gasped into the phone. When the line went dead everyone looked at her. Her face was as white as paper and she was shaking.

Everyone was deathly quiet, the silence only being broken by a sob escaping Tabatha's mouth. She climbed out of the car on shaky legs and nearly collapsed. Luckily Daryl had been the one standing next to the car door and caught her. He knew she was really bad off, considering the fact that she didn't start screaming or hit him. She just collapsed in his arms and sobbed. Eventually the rest of the group dissipated and went to bed.

Daryl held her until she stopped crying. He was going to say something, he didn't know what, but something, before he could she pulled away. Tabatha looked up at him, maybe she was dizzy from sobbing and the slight vertigo she got from looking up after spending so long with her face in his chest, but she swore she could see her old Daryl in his cool blue eyes. Her head started swimming with memories of their time together, well at the least the time they had together before the marriage.

He had been so perfect then, when they were just friends. Unfortunately she snapped out of it when she realized that he was leaning forward slowly, his lips getting closer to her's. She jumped up, stared at him awkwardly for a moment. He was still on the ground in front of her, looking up at her. Tabatha's mind kept flashing back to their night of passion in his truck, the way he had looked up at her from between her quivering legs. She shook her head slightly, trying to dislodge the memories.

"Thank you," she mumbled before climbing into the back of her car and pulling the covers over her head.

Daryl sighed and made his way back to his truck. He didn't know who that had been on the phone, and he really didn't know why he thought he should kiss her. He laid back and stared at the ceiling in his truck, he didn't know how he'd figure this all out.

* * *

Tabatha was sitting with Dale in the RV, he had pulled her in to talk to her about last night. She really didn't know why, but she felt like she could trust him, like she could tell him everything.

"Dennis is...was...my boyfriend. We hadn't been together long, but we were close." she cleared her throat awkwardly when she noticed Daryl standing next to the open door. She took a deep breath and decided to keep going, it would be better after she talked about it, at least that's what Dale had said. "We hadn't even gotten to the whole strange 'I love you' phase. If I'm being honest with myself, I don't think I loved him, at least not then...maybe...if we'd have more time. Not like it matters now."

Tabatha put her head in her hands, sighing.

"Did he know?" Dale asked quietly.

She looked at him with confusion on her face, "did he know what?"

"That you were still married," he replied, inclining his head in Daryl's direction.

Tabby didn't really know what she was feeling. Shock, guilt, shame, but she couldn't really stop herself from answering. "No," she replied, shaking her head.

"Why?" Daryl popped in, confusion etched on his face.

"Because if I told him about you I'd have to tell him about the..." she broke off, suddenly remembering that Dale was sitting there watching her. "The other thing."

"The 'other thing'?" Daryl said, anger spilling into his voice. "Is that all it was to ya? Another thing? Nothing important!"

"I don't want to talk about this right now!" she barked. "I've lost everything, Daryl. Even before all of this shit happened. And you want me to just what? Throw myself at you and sob about how sorry I am! I get it! It was my fault, all of it! I made the stupid decisions that made it all happen! And I know you've always blamed me for it." she finished, trying to catch her breath.

Daryl stared at her in disbelief for a moment, the anger fading away from him just as quickly as it had come. He took a step closer to her and stared at her. "Is that why ya left? Ya thought I blamed ya?" he asked quietly.

Tabatha blinked, this was really not going the way she had wanted it to. "Of course you blamed me, and you were right to. It was my fault, I was the one who seduced you, pissed you off all the time, I was the one who got in that fucking car."

He just looked at the floor, shaking his head slightly. "All this time, I thought ya left cuz ya blamed me."

"Why would I blame you? It was all my fault."

"Will ya stop sayin that!" he snapped. "I didn't blame you." he spoke deliberately. "I always blamed myself."

"What? Why?" she asked, almost dumbstruck.

"Cuz I treated ya like shit, Tabatha. I got drunk to fuckin' much, took out all my shit on ya." He swallowed hard for a second. "I hit ya that night. I couldn't believe I did. Then the cops called, said ya was in the hospital. When I got there they said that ya had already lost the bab..." Daryl didn't get to finish his recounting of that night, as Tabatha pushed past him out of the RV, mumbling something about needing air.

He went to go after her, but Dale stopped him. "Maybe you should give her some time. I think this might be a lot for her to take right now."

Daryl was going to put up a fight, but thinking about it rationally, he knew Dale was right. He sighed and grabbed his crossbow to go out hunting. At least he had gotten to talk to her about it, even if he didn't get to say everything he had wanted to.

* * *

_Thank you to _ maawwge, 19, cuberftw, eloquent dreams, Miss E Charlotte, Amaya Dixon, and everyone that has read, added, or enjoyed this story =-). I hope you like it, and please, keep the comments coming. Daryl will try to redeem himself, but even though I know where I'm going with this story, I don't know if I'll have him complete that task =-)


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Over the next week Glenn had made a few trips to the city to get supplies. One morning before he was about to head out, Tabatha approached him.

"Hey! I was wondering, you know, if it isn't too much trouble, if you could pick up some things for me." She said with a hopeful grin.

Glenn smiled back, "Uh, sure. What were you thinking of?"

"Yay! I made a list, just in case you said yes."

Glenn looked down at the list she had given him as she walked away. He scratched his head before hopping into a car and heading on his supply run.

* * *

He got back a few hours later and brought Tabatha her stuff. She gave a grin and a quick hug before taking the bags and heading for the RV.

"Whatcha got there?" Shane asked, stopping her before she reached the door of the RV.

"Just some stuff," she said with a shrug while looking at him like he was stupid.

He took one of the bags from her and looked in it. "Seriously? You had him go out and get you booze? Trying to get drunk while the rest of us are trying to survive is really not the smartest thing to be doing right now." He said with a scowl.

She took the bag back from him and composed herself, she really hated it when men talked down to her. "I have my reasons, okay. Besides, I wasn't going to drink it all, I was planning on sharing with anyone that wanted to partake."

"This is just stupid, Tabby," he said, using the nickname pretty much everyone had started using for her.

"Shane, calm the hell down, it's not like I'm an alcoholic or anything, I just wanted a drink or two."

"Why? Gimme one good reason why and I'll shut my mouth." Shane replied, matching her irritated look with one of his own.

Daryl walked by on his way down to the quarry to clean off, he had heard the conversation and knew her reason. He also knew that she wasn't going to tell anyone that reason either, which meant this argument was going to last way to long for his likely. So he decided he'd help out a little bit. He popped her bubble without missing a step on his way down to the water. "It's her birthday."

Tabatha glared at his back as he walked away, cursing herself for forgetting his unnervingly good memory. He had always remembered her damn birthday, even making sure to tell her grandparents to tell her 'Happy Birthday' from him every time they called her on it.

"Why didn't you just say so," Shane said with a big grin, stepping out of the way so that she could get into the RV. "Happy Birthday," he said in a half sing-song voice.

"Thanks," she replied with a bit of a sigh as she walked into the camper.

Later that night people started filing into the camper to partake in Tabatha's birthday drink fest. Lori, Carol, and Miranda stayed in their tents with their kids. Jim was on watch up on the roof of the camper with Dale, but everyone else was in the camper. Everyone had held their breath when Daryl stepped in, thinking that him and Tabatha would get into it again.

"Ya don't mind if I join ya?" he had asked before taking a seat on the passenger seat.

"Nope, I said anyone that wanted to partake was welcome." she replied, not meeting his eyes.

About an hour later the camper was pretty much empty, most of the party goers having gone to bed. Leaving Tabatha, Merle, Daryl, and Andrea still drinking. Andrea was the only one seriously showing signs of being drunk.

"Why the hell aren't you guysh drunk yet?" she slurred with a little hiccup.

"Your kiddin right?" Tabatha asked with a little grin. "These two could probably drink a whole biker gang under the table. And me?" she shrugged,"must just be my awesomeness."

"Ah, Hell, Tabby Cat. Ya know ya been drinkin almost as long as Daryl." Merle said with a grin.

"Well whose fault is that?" she asked with mock offense.

"Yars." he drawled with another lecherous grin.

"Bullshit," she laughed. "I was what, 14 when you bought me my first drink?"

"14?" Andrea asked with a shocked expression.

"Ya asked for it hun." he replied.

"I also asked for cigarettes and pot, all these things are things you really shouldn't get for a teenager just cuz they asked for it, silly." she said with a giggle.

"Wait, shso I thought you were some big badassh who didn't like anyone, but anything sshe ashked for you got her?" Andrea asked, looking even more confused.

"What can I say? She was a pretty lil' thing." he said, sending a wink her way.

"Blow it out your ass Merle. You know I was the ugliest damn kid you'd ever seen. You just always had a soft spot for me." she stuck her tongue out at him when he flipped her off.

The whole while Daryl just sat there, watching them. He had never really understood why Merle had always taken such a shine to her. But it had been that way since he was 6 and Merle had forced him to play nice with the cute little girl down the street. Hell, he'd always treated her better than he did Daryl, his own flesh and blood.

"Hey, Tabby Cat. You member anythin bout that night?" Merle asked with a smile and a glance at Daryl.

"Not really, it's still really fuzzy when I try to think about it." she said shooting him a confused look. "Why? Do you remember it?"

"Hell yea I do. I didn't get shit faced like ya did tho."

* * *

_"Tabby Cat? Ya drunk already?" Merle asked the little stick of a girl who was laying flat on her back on the floor._

_"No way! The walls are just moving, is all." she slurred, making him laugh. _

_Across the room a 15 year old Daryl was watching TV, just a little bit drunk, too. And sitting a little bit closer to the drunken Tabatha was one of her few other friends, Janice, she was about 15 too, and was much more interested in the pot Merle had brought than the booze._

_"Hey Tabby! I have a great idea! Why don't we play truth or dare?" she asked with a sly little grin._

_"Okay!" Tabatha replied, her cheeriness coming back into her voice. _

_"Kay, I'll go first. Truth or dare?" she asked._

_Tabatha hiccuped a little after taking a hit and passing the joint back to Merle. "Truth."_

_"Hmmm, do you have a crush on anyone right now?" Janice asked with a knowing grin._

_Tabby blushed and mumbled her answer, "Yeah." Then she cleared her throat and looked at her friend, "My turn! Truth or dare?" _

_"Truth," Janice answered._

_"Are you a virgin?" Tabatha blurted out the first thing that came to mind._

_It didn't work. "Nope!" she replied, grinning at Merle who sneered at her. There was no way he was touching that piece of jail bait, even if she begged, he didn't roll like that._

_"My turn again! Truth or Dare!" Janice asked, knowing exactly how drunk Tabatha was.._

_"Ummmm, dare?" Tabby answered, a little uncertain. _

_Janice grinned triumphantly, her friend was smashed enough that she knew she could get away with this. "I dare you to kiss Daryl." she said with a grin._

_Daryl's head shot up at the mention of his name. "What?"_

_Tabatha got up and stumbled over to him. "I'm supposed to kiss you." she said, her heart fluttering in her chest._

_"No fucking way! That's just nasty!" he yelled._

_Tabby started moving in, trying to kiss him. Maybe if she just got to kiss him he'd like it. The closer she got to his lips the move he struggled to push her away, finally he pushed her off of him and took off to the bathroom, locking himself in._

_She stumbled back into the living room where Janice was laughing at her. "God, you're so pathetic!" she said with another laugh, that was quickly cut off by Merle grabbing her by the hair, dragging her to the door and physically throwing her ass out. By the time he got back to the living room, Tabatha was no where to be seen. He found her about an hour later, out in the garage, passed out in the front seat of one of the cars._

_He sighed and picked her up, taking her back in the house. He laid her down on the couch and covered her up. He really wished he'd been paying more attention to her and her dumb ass friend. Merle had a feeling that bitch was trouble._

_"Just hope ya don't member none of this shit in the mornin'" he mumbled as he pushed her hair behind her ear and then headed to his room to pass out._

* * *

"Holy shit! I didn't remember any of that, but for some reason I never wanted to talk to that cunt again." Tabatha said laughing.

Daryl grunted from his seat, he remembered that night, too. He spent the rest of the night locked in the bathroom. But it wasn't for the reason her friend had thought. He didn't run away because she was ugly, honestly, he'd never looked at her like she was more than a boy before that night. But the way she had been crawling on him had made his dick get hard, he was so embarrassed he had locked himself in the bathroom the whole night.

As he sat and watched Merle and Tabatha talk for about another, reminiscing about the 'good ole days', he wondered why he had never talked to her as easily as his brother could. The whole time they were together they never talked about anything but how shitty his day had been. He hadn't even tasked her about her day.

Andrea had passed out, and Daryl reclined in the seat and rubbed his hands over his face. He started to drift off to sleep listening to her voice, telling stories about her life since him to Merle, and with the gut wrenching realization that he was not only a horrible husband, but a shitty friend, too. She hadn't been the only one that got them stuck in their situation, but he had always treated her like getting pregnant had been her grand scheme to trap him.

When he finally passed out the last thought that went through his head was how much he wished he could go back to the start of their marriage and fix it all. He knew he could of been happy if he hadn't fucked it all up.

* * *

_**Thank you to all my reviews of my last chapter, I'm trying to keep up with all of you as much as possible =-): **cuberftw, eloquent dreams- and if I missed anyone I'm sorry. My e-mail is all jacked up right now_. _I do use your suggestions and thoughts, just ask eloquent dreams, she gave me an idea with one of her reviews and I liked it so much it's now become part of my plot lol. I love getting the e-mails alerting me that this is getting added to peoples favorites and their alerts. I love, love, love reviews =-) Thank you all so much._

_**Oh, and I'm taking Merle in a less jackass direction, because I've always liked the actor who plays him =-p.**_


	7. Chapter 7

******This is just a short chapter, that will, hopefully, keep you all interested while I'm on a little break. My husband is working day shifts and then he's off for a week, so I probably won't be posting for awhile. Gonna get me some alone time even if it kills me lol.**

**Chapter 7**

"Rise and shine, Pumpkin!" Tabby said as she shook Daryl, who was still passed out in the RV, awake.

He rubbed his face and looked outside, "Holy shit, what time is it?" he asked groggily.

"Dunno, but everyone's eating breakfast." she said as she plopped down in the driver's seat before handing him a plate and continuing to munch off of her's. Daryl stared at her for a second, the thought of poison crossing his mind. She rolled her eyes and grabbed a piece of food off of his plate and popped it into her mouth. "See, not poisoned."

Daryl chuckled a little as he took the plate, she'd always been able to read him like a book. They ate in silence for a few minutes, he was pretty surprised she hadn't taken off the second he took the plate.

She cleared her throat a little bit, "Soooo..." he looked up at her as she watched him awkwardly. He raised an eyebrow at her, waiting for her to continue. "After you passed out last night, me and Merle started talking. I mean, we're gonna be stuck together for a while, so maybe we should start being more civil to each other." Tabby couldn't suppress a slight giggle when he looked at her with his "what the fuck" look. "Okay, okay. _I_ need to be more civil. So I was thinking, we really sucked as a couple, Daryl. Like, hardcore blew at it. But we were really great as friends." She finished with a small smile.

Daryl finished chewing before he spoke. "So ya wanna go back ta how we was when we was kids?"

"Yes, I want to go back to how we _were _when we _were_ kids." she corrected with another smile.

"Shit, Tabs. Ya really tryna fix the way I talk?" he asked with a small smile of his own. He remembered how she was always correcting him when they were kids, she had stopped when they got married, like she had stopped caring.

"Naw," she said, pinching his cheek. "I just like fucking with you." Tabby started laughing at the irritated look on his face as she left the RV.

* * *

The women were all sitting around the quarry doing laundry. Reminiscing about life before this, all the things they missed.

"I miss my vibrator." Andrea suddenly burst out, causing all the girls to giggle, which just got worse when Carol chimed in with her "me too."

Tabby finally stopped giggling long enough to reply with, "what do you mean miss?" causing all the girls to giggle more and stare at her.

"You mean you still have yours?" Amy asked, a little embarrassed.

"Of course I do, why do you think I had Glenn pick me up batteries and booze." the other girls started laughing again. "You can laugh all you want, but my date nights with Jensen are the only things keeping me from turning into the biggest bitch on the planet."

The giggling kept up, but Andrea was finally able to ask, "Jensen? You named your vibrator Jensen?"

"Hell yeah, Jensen Ackles! Probably the sexiest man on the planet." she smiled as she kept scrubbing at the shirt in her hands. She looked up at the other girls and noticed their dumbstruck looks. "Seriously? You don't know who he is?" They all shook their heads no, "Holy fuck, Jensen Ackles, as in Dean Winchester, as in Supernatural. Only like the best show ever made." she explained.

"Wait, is that the one were they go around and kill ghosts and stuff?" Amy asked.

Tabby nodded a little bit, "Kinda, they take care of all the things that go bump in the night. Like vampires and werewolves." she giggled as Amy crossed her arms.

"You really still gonna give me shit for liking Twilight?" she asked with a huff.

"Of course I am!" Tabby laughed. "It ain't ever gonna let up til you admit that it's a horrible, terrible franchise."

They argued for a little bit before the other women pulled them back into the conversation. Apparently they had changed the topic from vibrators to men, and best sex they ever had. They were all a little surprised when Carol didn't name Ed as her best time, they had figured he probably sucked in bed, but they didn't expect her to say it out loud.

"What about you, Tabby? Do any men from your past live up to Jensen?" Lori asked with a small giggle.

Daryl was walking by, probably headed back into camp after hunting, judging from the string of squirrels he had with him. "Just one." Tabby replied, watching him walk away.

* * *

The supply run group left the next day. Tabatha had voiced her opinion about how it was a stupid idea to send so many, especially when Merle was a part of that group. She felt helpless not knowing what was going on out there. Most importantly, not knowing what was happening to the man she had considered closer than a brother her whole life.

When they eventually got back, she was happy to see everyone was still alive, but once she realized Merle wasn't getting out of that van, all that emotion quickly turned to panic.

"Where's Merle?" she asked the group, barely registering the happy reunion of the man named Rick with his family. The rest of the supply group looked at her, as if at a loss for words.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Just something small, so you guys don't loose too much interest in the story. Hope you enjoy it =-) I was gonna make it longer but my son keeps pulling me away from the computer =-p**_

**Chapter 8**

"Where is Merle?" Tabatha asked, her heart plummeting into her stomach at the looks she was getting from the rest of the group. When no one said anything she felt like she was going to explode with rage. "Where's Merle!" she yelled.

"Tabby, calm down. We had to leave him, he was being reckless, he would of gotten the rest of us killed." Andrea said, stepping a little bit closer to Tabatha.

"What the hell are you talking about? You _had_ to leave him?" Tabby could feel the angry tears trying to let themselves loose.

"It was my fault, I handcuffed him to the roof. He was drawing attention to us with his shootin." The man Tabatha vaguely realized was Carl's father said. Flashes of beating him in the head with a rock were only mildly abated by T-dog's confession.

"I was supposed to let him out. I lost the key. I'm sorry Tabby." he said, looking at the ground.

"Your sorry? Your fucking sorry? You left him there! How could you?"

"Tabatha! Get a hold of yourself. If we didn't stop him than none of us would of been able to come back to our families." Andrea put in, trying, and failing, to diffuse the situation.

"You stupid bitch! Don't you dare tell me to get a hole of myself! You wanted to come back to your families? Big fucking deal! What about Merle's family?" Tabatha barked, stepping up to Andrea until they were only inches apart.

"Daryl's tough, they don't even seem to like each other." Andrea said smugly, as if she had won the argument. The fist that connected with her jaw should of told her otherwise.

"Don't you dare act like you know them!" Tabatha yelled as she struggled to get back at Andrea and away from Shane's arms holding her back. "What about me, you stupid whore! Merle's the only family I have left! And you just sacrificed him!" Shane was finally able to get her into the RV, where Dale took over trying to calm her down.

By the time Daryl came back to camp the next day, Tabatha had stopped struggling, stopped arguing. She just locked herself away in the RV's bathroom, sobbing. She could vaguely hear the commotion of when they told Daryl, it sounded like Andrea had learned to keep her trap shut, but the others hadn't really.

"Tabatha!" Daryl barked through the door of the bathroom. "Get your ass out here, now girl!"

She unlocked the door, but kept were she was on the floor. When the door opened Daryl's face went from rage to concern. She was so pale, he'd only seen her this pale once, and that was the worst day of his life. He knew she cared about Merle, and he knew that Merle had always cared about her more than anyone else. She was the little sister he needed to protect, where as Daryl was the little brother he needed to toughen up.

He cleared his throat before speaking. "I'm gonna go get him." he stated simply.

Tabby started climbing to her feet, "Then let's go." she said, before nearly falling over before Daryl caught her.

"I'm going. You...you are stayin put." He said, pulling her out of the bathroom and back to one of the beds.

"I have to go, Daryl. I need to get him back. He's...he's all I have left." She said, trying to hold back more tears.

Daryl barely resisted the urge to tell her that she still had him. They were friends, he'd rather have that then not have her at all. "I know," he sighed. "That's why I'm gonna bring him back. You know Merle, he's a tough son-a-bitch. If anyone could survive, it'd be him." He paused and brushed the hair out of her face. "But ya gotta stay here, eat sumthin. You know Merle'l beat the shit outa me if he sees ya like this." He felt a little thrill when she laughed.

"You were always terrible in the humor department, Daryl. But thank you for tryin." She cuddled into his side and tried to relax. If anyone could find Merle, it would be him. Tabatha smiled a little, remembering when Merle had taken them out hunting one summer. She must've been 12, and Daryl was trying so hard to show off how great of a tracker he was. He had been so busy showing off that he didn't even notice that mud puddle pond. She could still remember how red his face was when he came back up, covered in mud, Merle and her laughing so hard she thought her sides would split. "Boy, I sure hope you is the one on my trail if'n I get lost." Merle had joked when he finally caught his breath. Tabatha missed those days, back when they were a family.

She fell asleep before they left, dreaming about the simpler times, before she screwed it all up by falling for her best friend.

* * *

_Thank you to Alina Maxwell, eloquent dreams, and Miss E Charlotte for reviewing the last chapter =-). You guys are awesome! =-)_


	9. Author's Note

Authors Note

I probably won't be updating for awhile. Unfortunately I just got out a week long stay at the hospital. I had Pancreatitis, and had to have my gall bladder removed. I'm still in a lot of pain and I'm dealing with trying to get a three year old to understand that Mommy is hurt and can't pick him up.

It breaks my heart to tell him no when he throws his arms up and asks me to pick him up.

Hopefully I will be back to my old self soon, and as soon as I feel well enough I swear I will start coming up with ideas for the next updates. I hope you all don't forget about me while I'm on my little 'sabbatical'.

I would love to be able to push through the pain and distracting thoughts and get updates out for you guys, but I'm not that strong of a person.

Thank you all for your love of this story. It warms my heart to know that I don't suck at writing as much as I think I do =-p.

Luckily, there are tons of awesome stories on this site. If you were to go look at my favorites I'm sure you'd find something that you like. We have a great database of awesome authors who are churning out stories so epic that it makes your head spin.

I'll be back when I can.

Lots of love and admiration;

Sarai

a.k.a

Sunnymuffins


	10. Chapter 9

**_Short chapter, but I'm finally starting to feel like I can keep off the pain killers long enough to write a coherent sentence, so I thought I'd post a little update. I hope you like it, and review on it, I think I've really been missing the reviews lol._  
**

**Chapter 9**

Tabatha decided to distance herself from the group and their little feast, hoping to avoid a conflict of any kind if someone decided to bring up Merle. She wasn't sure she could stop herself from unleashing the rage that was boiling inside of her. Instead, she sat in the RV, looking through an old photo album she had toted with her for pretty much her entire life. The album held some of her greatest memories, sadly there were little to no photos of her parents. She knew she had always been a burden to them, when she was small and cute they dragged her everywhere, savoring the attention they received from people cooing over her. Once she had gotten into that awkward phase, where she was pretty much just long arms and legs, braces, glasses, and acne, that's when she ended up alone.

Her parents would go out to all the big parties in town, making up some excuse about how she had homework, or she was sick. All the while she was at home, whittling away the hours reading or watching TV. When they would get home they were usually too drunk to do anything but collapse in their bed and pass out. Tabby had started to excel in school, which they took as bragging rights to their so called friends. But she never did it for them, she worked hard, hoping that some day she could get a scholarship to a school in Georgia, and live with her grandparents again. She had always felt like they were her real parents, and Merle and Daryl where her real family.

She flipped the page and came across a picture that made her smile from ear to ear. It was of Merle, Daryl, and her standing in front of a river. Merle was about 17, standing in the middle with a huge grin, a whopper of a fish in his right hand, and his left hand on a 7 year old Tabatha's head. She was wearing an over sized fishing hat, her braided pig tails sticking out of the bottom of it. You could barely see her face, just her big grin, showing off her three missing teeth. She was holding a fishing pole and a little fish up for the camera. Daryl was on the other side of Merle, a little scowl on his face and his eyes rolling. He was 8, and his fish was way bigger than Tabby's, but she still remembered bragging about the giant fish she caught. Her grandma had taken the picture, she loved taking pictures.

Tabby was still lost in her memories when the door popped open and Amy walked in, calling out something about using the bathroom behind her. Tabatha just tried to ignore her, like she'd been ignoring everyone. After a couple minutes Amy walked back through, opened the door and called out that there wasn't any toilet paper. That's when all Hell broke loose.

The screaming started with Amy, her arm being torn into by a walker, then it seemed to erupt from everyone around camp. Shouted instructions jumbled with screams of terror. Tabatha was about to bolt out of the door of the RV when one of the walkers started trying to climb in through the door. She grabbed a crowbar that was leaning up against one of the seats and started wailing on it's head, almost primal screams coming out of her mouth before she could even stop them. A few more walkers were trying to climb over the dead one in front of the door. It felt like she was swinging that thing for hours before it all stopped.

Everyone was shook up or crying. Andrea was sobbing over the lifeless form of Amy, Carol was crying about her dick of a husband being dead. The kids were all crying, terrified of there near death experience. When the dust had settled they took stock of their losses. Eleven people, they were so unprepared.

Daryl had made his way to the RV to find Tabatha, huddled underneath the table, crying quietly. He pulled her out and held her close to his chest. So much death in just a short amount of time. He didn't know whether or not she was crying because of the death, the terror, or the shock. But he knew why she would be crying later.

* * *

They had finished up burning and burying, discovered Jim's bite and put him in the back of the R.V. all before anyone asked why Tabatha was just sitting down by the water. Daryl wandered down to her at that point, leaving Rick to explain that the trip was damn near pointless. They hadn't found Merle, just his hand, and they split the guns with another group in the city. Daryl had told Tabby about Merle when they started the clean up, he couldn't take the way she was looking around the camp, eyes full of hope that her big moron was going to pop out from behind a tree or something.

When he got down to where she was sitting he plopped down next to her. They sat in silence, him staring at his hands that he had dangling over his bent knees, her staring off into the water, like it was going to open up and tell her all the secrets of the world. He was about to get up and leave again, thinking she didn't want any company, when she spoke.

"Why'd he do it?" she asked quietly.

"Why'd he what? Cut his hand off? Prolly cuz he didn wanna be on that roof no more." he replied, hoping to lighten her mood.

She shook her head and frowned at the water. "Why'd he leave me?"

Daryl had been hoping Merle had stolen their van to get back to her, to keep her safe like he always did. But after the shock of the attack died down, he realized Merle wasn't there. If he was heading back to camp he would of been there way before his rescue party made it back. Daryl knew that Tabatha was going to have a hard time understanding how he could just leave her. He'd always been there when she needed him, and now it was like he just disappeared.

He shrugged and kicked at some of the rocks around his boot. "Dunno, figured he woulda come back ta ya."

Tabatha closed her eyes, trying to will the tears away. "Well...he didn't. And now...now I'm all alone. He was all I had...and now...he's gone." she said, stopping every now and then to gulp down her tears.

He didn't know if she'd be pissed at him, but he had to do something, so he put his arm around her and pulled her close. "Tabs, he's not all ya had." She looked up at him, her eyes shinning with tears. "Ya got me. Imma keep ya save, okay?" He finished as he wiped away some of the tears that escaped her eyes.

She sniffled and nodded before running her hands over her face.

"Okay, now we gotta go back up ta camp, they wanna talk bout where we going next." He stood up and helped her to her feet, then followed her back up to camp.


	11. Chapter 10

**_It's kind of short, but I wasn't really feeling like writing tonight, I just wanted to update at least one of the three stories I'm currently working on =-)_  
**

**Chapter 10**

After a bit of arguing and a hasty funeral, the group finally agreed to head to the CDC. Rick had said he hoped they would be able to find answers there. Everyone packed up their things and started trying to sort out where everyone was riding. Eventually everyone had found a place, except for Tabatha.

She was standing around the middle of the packed up camp, staring at the place where Merle's tent had been. People had been trying to break her out of her trance the whole time they were loading up, but they had all failed. Finally, Daryl had had enough. He approached her cautiously, not wanting her to lash out at him. He placed a hand on her lower back and guided her toward his truck. She was easy to lead there. He knew the look on her face, she was lost in her own little world. The same little world she lost herself in when her aunt had died, and again when her uncle had remarried so soon after the funeral.

When Tabatha was in this world there was no talking to her, no getting through to her, no reasoning with her. She'd come out of it sooner or later. She didn't even move when they stopped to drop Jim off on the side of the road. Just stared out of the window ahead of her. Everyone had shot worried glances at Daryl's truck, no one but him understanding the process she had to go through.

* * *

She didn't really even register the commotion before they got into the CDC. She let Jenner take her blood without a word and picked at her food at dinner. Much like Shane, she took a bottle of alcohol into the shower with her. But, unlike him, she was drunk enough to lose her inhibitions faster than him.

Tabby left her shower and headed to Daryl's room. Without even announcing herself or knocking she let herself into the bathroom he was showering in. Daryl popped his head out of the shower stall and came face to face with a naked, drunk Tabatha.

"What are you doing?" he asked, shock evident on his face.

She looked at him, lust filling her eyes, "whatever I want." She answered.

With that she stepped into the shower and wrapped her arms around him. He had dreamed about this moment for long that he could barely control himself as he pushed her against the shower wall.

Their mouths found each other hungrily, her arms around his shoulders, his own on her hip and neck. She brought her leg up around his waist, causing his hand to slip down and grasp her ass. Tabatha moved of her hands down to guide him into her, letting out a low moan when their pelvises met.

They moved together frantically, each of their bodies begging for more. He moved his face into her neck.

"I knew you still loved me." he moaned against her ear.

She kissed him softly as she pulled away so she could watch his face as he spilled himself inside of her with a loud grunt. After their shower they retired to his room, where she fell asleep in his arms.

* * *

_**Like I said, short, but my son goes to bed in about a half hour, so I have to go through that ritual lol. I will update again, either this one or the other two stories I'm working on atm. Please read and review, let me know what you think =-)**_

_**Thank you to Alina Maxwell and Miss E Charlotte for reviewing the last chapter =-)  
**_


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

The chaos was building inside of her once again. People were yelling, begging, and pleading around her, while she stood, stoic, all her possessions in a bag hanging limply from her arm. Her eyes hadn't left Jenner, he was so calm in all the panic around him. But she wasn't really seeing him, her mind was elsewhere, memories flooding her brain.

Tabatha could hear the thunking of the axe against the door behind her, Daryl grunting with each swing. But in her mind she was sitting by a lake, her parents off to the side, arguing near the car as she played in the sand. She was five, an expert at blocking out the sounds of her fighting parents. They hadn't even noticed that she had wandered away, further down the water, trying to escape the invading sound of their voices.

She was following a lizard by that point, trying to catch it as it scurried up a little hill above the water. It's scurrying living a little trail of dust that she was following. It climbed over a rock and she followed, lunging after it. She wasn't very coordinated back then, and she ended up slipping.

Tabby fell over the side of the little ridge, landing in the water. It was so cold as it hit her, so very cold and deep. Her parents had never taught her to swim. She flailed, trying desperately to keep her head above the water. But the water was just so cold, it had numbed her body almost as soon as she hit it.

Her lungs were on fire, and she couldn't even get enough air to scream for help. She was going to die, even at her young age she knew it. Could feel it in her tiny little bones.

She let it take over. There was no way she could save herself, and her parents didn't even know she was gone, let alone drowning. A strange sensation took her over, angels were lifting her up to Heaven, taking her away from the cold lake and into their warm arms.

Something solid hit her back, but she still couldn't breath. Maybe the angel had dropped her, but it would come back for her. It had to, she was dead and the angel had to take her to Heaven.

There was a pressure on her, like someone pushing on her. The coughing came first, before she opened her eyes. The angel was looking down at her, saying something she couldn't quite hear. Another face came into focus behind her angel. _"Another angel?" _she thought. Why would there be two angels coming to take her? She wasn't that big, and the angel leaning over her was definitely big enough carry her.

"Can ya hear me girl?" her angel's voice finally came to her. It was gruff, like sand paper. Then she heard a sound she thought she'd never hear again. Her mother's screeching voice calling somewhere off to the side. She wasn't dead.

At the hospital she found out that her "angels'" names where Merle and Daryl Dixon. They had been fishing across the lake and had seen her fall in. They came to her rescue before her parents even realized she was gone. Both of them abandoning their fishing gear and diving into the water after her. Daryl was only a year older than her and he had been the first one to reach her. He was too small to pull her up, but Merle was right behind him, dredging her out of the water and onto the beach.

Merle had had Daryl push on her, to get the water out. He said he didn't want to hurt her, and Daryl was less likely to break her ribs. But he had been there, holding her hand and willing her open her eyes.

When they had left she remembered her parents muttering things about rednecks and them needing a bath anyway. But Tabatha didn't know what they were talking about. She didn't know what a redneck was, but she knew the two boys weren't rednecks. They were angels.

After her hospital stay Tabatha and the Dixon boys were near inseparable. Merle had laughed so hard when the little girl had told him they were angels to her. A Dixon being compared to anything other than trash a foreign concept to him.

But saving her, or her saying that, had endeared her to the rough teenager. She became the little sister he never wanted, and never thought he'd love more than anything else.

Tabatha absently heard Daryl yell something about someone's head as he rushed past her. But she was still stuck, her memory flashing back to the day her parents moved her away.

She was crying, sobbing really. Merle had been raging, he had gotten to the point of taking a bat to the moving van. The cops had come and hauled him away. Daryl had stayed by her side the whole time, his arm wrapped around her protectively until her parents had come to drag her away. She could still remember the tears in his eyes as her grandfather held him back. He had tried so desperately to break free and get her. Run away with her into the woods were they would never find them.

That had been the worst day of her life. The thought causing a small smile to form on her stoic face. That day was worse than this one. This was the day she died, Jenner wouldn't let them out and she was going to burn. But this day was no where near as bad as the day she was dragged away from her angels.

Today was the day she died, one angel by her side, and the other out there, surviving. She knew Merle was alive, she could feel it in her bones.

And then the door opened and everyone was running. Daryl was dragging her along, her brain still fuzzy. There was a blast, and she had ended up on the ground under Daryl. Next thing she knew she was being pushed into the cab of his truck as he jumped in beside her. The explosion was big enough to break the fog crowding Tabatha's brain.

It was then she realized she was in pain. Her leg felt like it was on fire, the pain shooting up from her calf. She reached down and pulled up her pajama pants, a sick feeling wrenching at her gut. "Daryl..." she barely whispered.

When he looked at her he felt his stomach drop. Her face was as white as paper, and he followed her eyes down to the bite mark on her leg. "I'm sorry." she whispered.

* * *

The small group stopped to regroup a little bit later, everyone gathering around the bed of Daryl's truck. He had moved Tabby there, trying to bandage her leg as she quietly cried. He hadn't said anything since he moved her out of the cab.

"Daryl?" Tabby asked as she watched him. He grunted, letting her know he heard her. She took a deep breath before continuing.

"Daryl, you know why I came to see you, I know Merle had to have told you that I needed to to sign the divorce papers. But there was also some things I needed to get off of my chest." she took another deep breath, "Now that this happened, I guess it's now or never." He glared at her, but she ignored him and continued.

"I never really blamed you for what happened. It was my fault. I started the fight, I got in the car with Merle when I knew it wasn't safe, and I'm the one who basically made him speed back to the house to kick your ass. It was my fault. But the worse thing that was my fault is that I never told you..." she faltered again, working up the nerve to say the next thing. "I never told you that we lost a son."

Daryl's eyes shot up to her's then. "A boy? We were havin a boy?" he asked, his throat feeling tight. She nodded and smiled sadly at him.

"And now I get to be with him. Daryl, I don't want to come back. I don't want to be one of these things. I need to just end it. Please Daryl," she could see the look in his eye, the look he had when they were kids and she was being pulled away from him. The look that spoke of how he just wanted to run away with her, run away were no one could find them. But she couldn't let him do that, not when she was a bomb waiting to go off.

He stared at her, tears stinging his blue eyes. He knew she was right, Hell, she was always right. But he loved her...how could he just let her die. Jenner had said there was no cure, no way to save those who've been infected. He knew this was the only way for her to go peacefully, like she deserved.

But could he do it? Daryl really didn't think he could. After a bit more begging he moved away. Forcing her to ask someone else to give her what she wanted. It ended up being Shane, standing behind her where she now sat on the grass. He could hear the gun being checked, no false starts. One bullet, the back of her head, and she would be gone forever.

Daryl hurried over to her then, grabbing her face and kissing her passionately before pulling away with a sob and damn near running into the RV where he didn't have to see the love of his life die. Where he didn't have to see the light go from her beautiful eyes.

Tabatha stared down at the picture in her hand. The picture of her and her angels, fishing at the lake she had nearly drowned in. Her fingers traced over the brothers, her heroes, her family.

Now she was going to be with her boy, the little angel she never got to meet. It would all be over with a...

BANG!

As the shot rang out, Daryl collapsed in the RV's bedroom, sobbing uncontrollably. She was gone. It was over.

* * *

_**Okay, don't hate me too much. This was shat I had planned for this story from the beginning. Please read and review, let me have all your hate on me lol.**_

_**Thank you to Miss E Charlotte, Alina Maxwell, and cuberftw for the reviews of last chapter. And to everyone who added the story or me to favs and/or alerts  
**_


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